Bultaco

The origin of the Bultaco motorcycle company dates back to May 1958. Francisco “Paco” Bultó was a director of the Montesa motorcycle company founded in 1944. After several years of steady growth and road racing success, in 1957 Montesa moved to larger facilities. The move was protracted, disrupting production and was followed by a downturn in the Spanish economy. This slump brought to a head disagreements between Bultó and the other senior director Pere Permanyer. As an economy measure, Permanyer (the majority shareholder) felt that the company should withdraw from racing. Bultó, the driving force behind the racing program and responsible for much of the company’s technical expertise was violently opposed. Failing to reach a compromise, Bultó decided to leave Montesa to concentrate on his other business interests. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the majority of Montesa’s racing department left shortly afterwards as well.

The suggestion to form a new company is said to have come a few days later when Sr. Bultó was invited to a meeting by several of the former staff of Montesa’s racing department. Keen to return to racing, they persuaded him that their greatest hope lay in forming a new company. Setting up shop in very primitive conditions at an old farm owned by Bultó, things developed quickly. On March 24, 1959 Bultaco held a press day and launched its first bike, the road-going 125cc Bultaco Tralla 101, named after the Spanish word for whiplash. Just two months later Bultaco entered its first Spanish Grand Prix taking seven of the first ten places.

BULTACO comes from combining the first four letters of Sr. Bultó’s surname with the last three of his nickname “Paco”. The name was a suggestion of one of Bultaco’s premier racers, and close friend of Sr. Bultó, John Grace from Gibraltar. CEMOTO is an acronym for “Compañía Española de Motores”. The other part of company logo, the “Thumbs up” symbol, came after Sr. Bultó witnessed British motorcycle racer David Whitworth giving the signal to his pit crew to signify that all was well. Sete Gibernau used to have this on the back of his crash helmet when he raced MotoGP.

In 1998, rights to the Bultaco name were purchased by Marc Tessier who used it to help launch a range of purpose-built trials motorcycles from his company Sherco Moto S.A.R.L. The bikes were initially named Bultaco Sherco’s, then in 2000 the bikes became ‘Sherco by Bultaco’ and in 2001 the Bultaco name was dropped altogether. The US trademark is now owned by HDW Enterprises, parent company of a parts and repair specialist for old Bultacos.

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